Main/News >> News Archives > The week of March 28 (2004) (you are here)

 MessGames: Unreal Tournament 2004 part 2

timothy says ( 03 Apr 2004 ):

It seems that our test server`s connection did not cope with it to well, so we have deceided to put the MessGames on hold until the server lag is fixed, or we have found a new place to host it. However, well played to CreaM, Kracal, [SiB] Blasphemer in the circumstances. Hopefully we will have a lag free game to have a real match with!

 MessGames: Unreal Tournament 2004

Zero1 says ( 03 Apr 2004 ):

So what have the Mess.be admins been doing in their top secret labratory recently besides gathering the latest news on MSN Messenger?.. Ever wanted to show the guys at Mess.be what you're made of? Now's your chance! The Mess.be admins present: The MessGames! (Not to be mistaken with the custom MSN Messenger games at games.mess.be). Tell me Mr. zero, what will I need? For this first game you will need: a copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 Retail. You will also need to be quick. We welcome thousands of visitors daily and there are only 12 places in the game! You must register for the games beforehand. When will the games be? The first game will be tonight at 6:00PM GMT (7:00PM CET) or 1 Hour and 40 minutes from this newspost. So what's in it for me, other than killing bad ass admins? Well, those of you that felt dissapointed you did not get a rare mess.be badge (see the April Fools post below) might have a chance at getting one after all! The winner of the whole tournament will win one :) Where can i find more information and signup? You can visit this page to get more information and signup for the MessGames. Note: You must have the full retail game to play. The server will not accept the demo.

 A Messenger Plus! beta-tester speaks...

dwergs says ( 03 Apr 2004 ):

DXtremz, one of the 25 "lucky" Messenger Plus! 3 beta-testers has posted a more extensive sneak peek at the upcoming version of the killer MSN Messenger addon. It includes a couple more screenshots than our preview yesterday and it's well worth reading! UPDATE: More MP!3 previews were tipped to me by eXoenDo! One from Messenger Plus! Zone and one from Kaonet. Check it out, MP fans! UPDATE 2: Arnaud's MP!3 preview was reported to me by soccer5sg.

 Mess.be Exclusive: The first Messenger Plus! 3 screenshots

dwergs says ( 02 Apr 2004 ):

So here they are... All authentic Plus!3 screenies showing just a few of the new features you can expect: - The completely restyled preferences panel is now officially more exciting than Red Shoe Diaries! - Microsoft got rid of word censorship in MSN Messenger by disabling the nickname filter, Patchou is the man who brings it back! Word filtering works in both ways: sending & receiving. - The Enhanced Plus! menu catches your attention immediately with a cool fading-in icon appearing next to a contact's name when you hover over it in the contact list. Another Enhanced Plus! menu is available in the conversation window. - No offense, Patchou, but the Quick Icons panel only just got useful. Forget the hassle with the one available in your current Plus! version. This one displays all your custom emoticons automatically upon pressing "(". - Forget Shakespeare, Sigmund Freud and Socrates! Quote your famous ego (that's you!) from now on with the Quote Sender. It remembers all your oneliners when Alzheimer kicks in again. - EXTRA SCREENSHOT! Start defragging your brain because you can forget all Plus! shortcuts. Typing "/" in the conversation window brings up a complete command list along with tooltips and additional help when selected. No need for guesses anymore. - EXTRA SCREENSHOT! POP3 integration got better thanks to the added port option and up to five configurable e-mail accounts. You'll never live a quiet 5 minutes without receiving an e-mail again! - EXTRA SCREENSHOT! Not everybody on your contact list should be aware of the fact that you're "Busy" bird-watching (or any other creative away message), so you'll be glad to hear you can now decided who receives your Personalised Status message and who doesn't. You can bet your life more screenshots of the upcoming Messenger Plus! 3 -without a doubt THE BEST MSN Messenger addon in this solar system- will be added soon! IMPORTANT NOTE: Webmasters and news posters, please upload these images to your own webspace! Thank you.

 Headvertisers search succesful: 23 April Fools found!

dwergs says ( 02 Apr 2004 ):

April 1st, Mess.be started a worldwide search for headvertisers, people who would be willing to tattoo our URL on their foreheads for $100 per week. What many -BUT NOT ALL- of you suspected was right: this post was Mess.be's April Fool's Day prank (no, I didn't forget)! But hey, we found twentythree super cool people who would actually DO such a thing! Much respect to Timmy, Robyn K., Dave H., Arnaud M., Ben G., Dolly H., Kenley N., Jeff. T, David W., Alfonso, Ben T., Mike B., Ali K., Sheree, Marco Z., Jens R., David R., Joe W., Liam L., Franko a.k.a Simon , Jazer, Shawn d'A. & Dave the willing Scotsman. Unfortunately, there's no money to be made off the tattoo you now have on your foreheads ;) Like Jeff added to his application email: "This better not be an April Fools Joke!!"... Sorry Jeff and all the others who fell for it (including 2 Mess.be news posters): it was! But don't wash that fat black marker letters off just yet, Timmy, Arnaud, Robyn, Dave H., Ben G., Dolly, Kenley & Jeff! Because the seven of you sent me fantastic pics with the URL really written on your heads (as in: un-edited) you will receive cool EXCLUSIVE Mess.be badges so you can promote one of your favorite sites by just sticking it onto your clothes (don't try this on your foreheads.. please!). These rare badges are NOT available to anyone else and are to be considered a token of appreciation of your dedication (and yeah, kinda an apology too) :D For the record: forehead advertising™ as an advertising method is no joke! Check out their website at Headvertise™. >> Take a look at the victims. >> Our fanpics gallery.

 Pull a joke on your contacts with April Fools Display Pictures

dwergs says ( 01 Apr 2004 ):

This tip may come a bit late, but I totally forgot it was April 1st today until somebody sent me the instant message "Mess.be is offline!" while it wasn't down at all. Har-har-har. Anyway, we have many free display pictures that you can use to pull a joke on your contacts. Take a look at our Funny & Jokes display picture category for a start! Talking about April Fools jokes, have you seen the products advertised on ThinkGeek.com today? :p [Display picture by: mrnako]

 Again some MSN Messenger 6.2 updates

timothy says ( 01 Apr 2004 ):

Another update on MSN Messenger 6.2 brought to you by Mess.be... who else? :) This time 3 new "fun and games" features appeared on the MSN Messenger 6.2 page: Under the title Join the Instant Games Clubhouse we found 3 new activities: -Wheel of Fortune Club -Bankshot Billiards Club -Chess Club Also, a little highlight on the deluxe display pictures: they are only going to be available "regionally", confirming our last week's guess that it will probably be an integrated version of MSN Power Plus for Korean (and maybe other Asian) MSN Messenger users.

 Advertise Mess.be and earn $100-$200 a week!

dwergs says ( 01 Apr 2004 ):

Do you attend a school or college? Are you fed up working like a madman, only to earn a mere portion of what you want? Are you outgoing and shameless? Would you like to earn $100 to $200 per week, with little or no work? If you answered 'yes' to all of these questions, we want you! Mess.be has teamed up with the innovating Headvertise™ for "in your face advertising" to the extreme and we are looking for 100 Messers to advertise us. You will get paid for time spent in class, time eating, time in the dorms,... Our only requirement is that you are shameless and outgoing, as our campaigns require you to modify your appearance for one school week at a time. Sounds crazy, but that's totally us! What we do is supply you a temporary tattoo, which will be placed on your forehead. You will then wear this tattoo on your forehead for your school week, receiving a handsome reward for your participation in the campaign. This is the design of the tattoo which will be sent to you by mail along with application instructions: If you are interested in earning between $100 to $200 per week (!), than follow these instructions: Write an email answering these questions in the body: - What school, college or university do you attend? - Do you play any sports? - Do you go to pubs - Do you go to parties/clubs Don't forget to include your name and country. Also recommended is including a picture of yourself (webcam or digital camera) with "Mess.be" written on your forehead (like Oliver is showing in the example -not like Beckz's little brother in the other pic). You'll have more chance getting selected if a picture is attached. UPDATE: Read the post above. This was our April Fools joke! Thanks to all believers & non-believers ;) [More info on forehead advertising™ at Headvertise™]

 "Your contact list is not availalbe"... in fact two errors

dwergs says ( 31 Mar 2004 ):

Since around March 20th MSN Messenger users started to get the following error message upon connecting: "You cannot use Messenger at this time because your contact list is not availalbe [sic]. Please try again later. Click Help to learn more about your contact list 0x81000378" Today the number of reports of this error is growing. This is a .NET Messenger server-side and passport account-specific problem so if you're stuck with this error for hours and hours, there's not much you can do but temporarily create (or use) another account to log into MSN Messenger after all. Here's a screenshot of the dialog window, showing the spelling mistake: [Reported by: RoNNY & BeNnY]

 Members.msn.co.uk temporarily closed

dwergs says ( 31 Mar 2004 ):

MSN UK has temporarily closed access to the MSN Member Directory as of 30 March 2004, affecting those with UK .NET Passports. members.msn.com/EMAILADDRESS and other regional variations to the URL still show member profiles appropriately. We have no idea why the directory has been disabled. >> You can view a buddy's profile (if he or she has one) by right-clicking the display name in your contact list and selecting View Profile. [Reported by: Luqman, Mark, stephen, th3us, Sarah K & ZiPP]

 MSN Messenger users commemorate Ceci

dwergs says ( 30 Mar 2004 ):

No it's not a new MSN Messenger nickname exploit, like Matt v. was wondering, but it's the next online mass expression of sorrow using MSN Messenger. Many (mostly Canadian college-aged) users of the service are putting the letters C or CZ (X has been spotted as well) as a tribute to Cecilia Zhang, a nine-year-old abducted from her home in October and found deprived of life in Toronto this weekend. Today would've been her 10th birthday. Feel free to use the picture to the right as your display picture. [Reported by: guitar_guru, Eric & Warlander]

 Updated: SpeedyMSN 6.1.211

dwergs says ( 30 Mar 2004 ):

SpeedyMSN by speedy_kevin is a modified version of MSN Messenger without some bells and whistles, like phone calls and video conferences. It is now updated for 6.1.0211, but still only available for Dutch MSN Messenger users. >> Check out a screenshot. >> Download SpeedyMSN on its homepage (Dutch).

 Messenger Plus! 3 Announced

SLim_Shady says ( 29 Mar 2004 ):

Today the first beta version of Messenger Plus! 3 has been sent to a list of selected beta testers. These people will make the difference by allowing all of you to enjoy a bug free add-on when the final version is released. Messenger Plus! 3 is currently scheduled to be shipped at the end of April. Patchou has allowed the testers to post screenshots and editorial articles starting April 2nd, so make sure you don't miss 'em on mess.be ;) [Source: MsgPlus.net]

 Video Ads Launch In MSN Messenger

dwergs says ( 29 Mar 2004 ):

UIP are launching the DVD release of Love Actually with one of two World first video ads in MSN Messenger. The ads use Flashtalking video streaming to play instantly as (regional versions of) MSN Messenger Today is opened. MSN and Flashtalking have been working together on delivery of video into MSN sites including Hotmail since September of last year, but this alongside an Xbox video ad is a World first for both MSN and Flashtalking. New Media Maze, London, handles the creative and media buying. [Source: MediaPost] [Homepage: Love Actually]

 Added: Skin Tool

dwergs says ( 28 Mar 2004 ):

Huuf finished his ultimate Skin Tool which makes full MSN Messenger skinning so much easier. With this tool, you can extract and insert BMP's, cursors, GIF's, Icons, JPG's and PNG's in just three steps. Manage your skinning projects, edit UIFiles and preview your skins before even inserting the custom resources. >> Download Skin Tool. Bug reports & questions are welcome at skinbugshuuf.net or the MSN Skinning Forums, where all full MSN Messenger skinning enthousiasts gather. Read the full MSN Messenger skinning tutorial for information on the whole skinning process.

 Added: Ink Creator 1.0 Beta 1

dwergs says ( 28 Mar 2004 ):

Ink Creator by ChrisTorng allows you to create and/or edit ink messages (handwriting in MSN Messenger) using any color & width and save them for later use/sending. Read the included text-file for instructions. >> Download Ink Creator (beta). >> You need the Messenger Plus! handwriting plugin in order to send ink messages, like the one in the screenshot to the right submitted by Noel Murphy!

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